El Cajon woman’s death in jail deemed natural

A 53-year-old El Cajon woman who was found unresponsive in her cell in a Santee jail earlier this year died from heart disease, a sheriff’s lieutenant said Tuesday.

Deputies at Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility were serving dinner about 4:25 p.m. June 13 when they discovered the woman, identified as Linda Bagby, according to homicide Lt. Juan Marquez. The Homicide Unit investigates when someone dies while in custody.

The deputies “immediately activated 911, requested assistance from the facility’s medical staff and began CPR,” Marquez said. Paramedics and the Santee Fire Department arrived and took over their efforts. The department said Bagby was pronounced dead about 4:35 p.m.

Marquez said in a news release that the Medical Examiner’s Office determined she died from complications of dilated cardiomyopathy, which the Mayo Clinic describes as a heart muscle disease. He said contributing factors were determined to include an enlarged liver and spleen, chronic alcoholism and morbid obesity. Her manner of death was classified as natural.

Marquez said Bagby had been in custody since Jan. 3 and was facing multiple charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and felony vandalism.

Ten people have died in San Diego County jails this year. The highest number of local jail deaths was in 2022, when 19 people died. Last year, nine people in local custody died.